Ephesians 3:16-19 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Last Sunday, Pastor Herk continued in his sermon series in the Epistle of Ephesians, asking how can we allow God to fill us with all His fullness, so that we can be all that He wants us to be. Infinite and eternal God’s “agape” love (a purely Biblical and ecclesiastical word) is so amazing that we cannot even fully understand the true fullness of that level of love; a love, affection and benevolence so great, generous and gracious that born-again believers cannot ignore it or reject it. If our hearts are right, we love God above all things, as the sum of all excellence and all the attributes which can communicate happiness to intelligent beings. In other words, the Christian loves God with the love of complacency in his attributes, the love of benevolence towards the interest of His kingdom, and the love of gratitude for favors received. The love of God is the first duty of man, and this springs from just views of his attributes or excellencies of character, which afford the highest delight to the sanctified heart. Esteem and reverence constitute ingredients in this affection, and a fear of offending Him is its inseparable effect.
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
The destination is to be spiritually mature, that you would be filled to the measure of all fullness of God. As His children, God’s goal for our life is that we experience a life that is filled to the brim with the fullness of God. How do you get to the point where your life is absolutely saturated with the fullness of God in a chaotic lost in sin world? That is why Jesus came – the Good Shepherd to lead us to green pastures and still waters (the abundant life of God’s fullness). What does “abundant life” means? When we make the decision to repent of sin, accept Christ as Savior and follow Jesus as the Lord of our life, God imparts His fullness to us in Christ, living in our heart. The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 2:9-10, “For in Him [Jesus] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over every ruler and authority.”
With Christian living comes experience, godly maturity and spiritual fullness to be all that you can be! But, it increases exponentially through the process of sanctification (growing into the likeness of Christ) along our whole life journey as a sojourner of the Lord on mission for the kingdom of God. And we need to have the help of other Christians in the family of God and the body of Christ supporting each other in order to become more spiritually mature. We have to experience operating more and more of godly fullness in our lives, in order for us to become all that God wants us to become.
Let's continue Pastor Herk's message not he fullness of God's love in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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